


A Match made in Hell

by tobethefairybest



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, mescana, mest x cana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2018-09-30 01:05:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10149581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobethefairybest/pseuds/tobethefairybest
Summary: Cana finds herself being forced into forming a team with seemingly the most useless wizard in the guild, or is he? (Prequel of my previous Mescana fic; Scarred Pasts (2015) )Disclaimer: This is my own repost of my story ''A Match made in Hell'' on ffnet!Keep in mind this fanfic is a prequel of my previous Mescana fanfic; Scarred Pasts. It contains small spoilers if you haven't read it yet!





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was pretty hard to come up with an idea because it takes place in a time that was never shown in the anime, just once in the manga. There were a lot of things to keep in mind, for example the fact that Lisanna hadn't 'died' yet and some people hadn't joined the guild yet. I hope I won't mess up with those facts in future chapters :')
> 
> Enjoy reading and let me know your thoughts on it! ^^

“Gramps, you can't be serious! Just let me team up with Elfman, or Laxus or whoever!” Cana shamelessly yelled at the old man. “Just not with the most boring and useless person in the entire guild!” she continued as she pointed to the other side of the guildhall where an expressionless boy with short hair sat by himself. “This is a pretty important mission with a huge reward so I'd rather not team up with that!”

“Cana, we're all family here. I'm doing this on purpose. There are more people in the guild than just the ones you hang out with and the ones who are the most powerful,” Makarov Dreyar said calmly.

“I don't care!” the card mage screamed back. 

A fist loudly landed on the bar Makarov sat on. “Cana that's enough!” Macao said with a threatening voice. “It's Gramps you're talking to, not just one of your friends. One more word and I'll take that job with Wakaba with Gramp's permission!” 

She sat down with a huge pout on her face. She wanted to yell more to let all the frustration out, but she couldn't afford losing the job. Taking on jobs before the S-Class trials meant a lot to the wizards. It made them gain much wanted experience. She was determined to take part in the trials this year as well. She just had to become an S-Class wizard, how else would she be able to face her dad? 

She rested her head on her folded arms, flat down on one of the guild's huge oak tables. Her eyes drifted off to the corner of the guildhall where her future job-partner was sitting. “How could one person be so boring?” she thought to herself. “He's always trying to show off his useless magic by performing tricks to others instead of going on jobs, what a loser.”

She didn't actually know a lot about him, she only knew he was annoying by trying to fit in the group and during the times he wasn't, he was pathetically sitting all by himself. “Just look at him, even his clothes are plain and boring,” she grumbled. 

“Just try not to be too hard on him, Cana,” someone suddenly said. She looked up, straight into Lisanna's big blue eyes.

“Easy for you to say, you're never hard on people.” 

The takeover mage smiled. “That may be so, but at least I give everybody a chance.” She winked. 

Cana sighed and stood up with all the motivation she had left. She walked over to the place where the boy was sitting, but suddenly she stood still. The table he just sat on was empty. She blinked a few times, he had been sitting there until a second ago, hadn't he?

“Looking for me?” She heard a voice say from the right. Cana quickly turned to the direction the voice was coming from, only to see the guy she had been walking up to sitting at a completely different table. She realised he had used his transportation magic to shift places and the frustration she reluctantly had hold back now came out in an angry burst. “If you dare to perform any of your stupid tricks during our job I'll leave you all by yourself in the middle of nowhere!” She yelled as she now towered over the boy that seemed not too impressed. “Tomorrow morning. Magnolia station. 11 a.m.” She added as she now pointed to his face. “Don't be late or I'll push you in front of the train.” 

She turned on her heels and stamped her way out of the guild, leaving all witnesses stunned. 

Gray walked up to the boy and gave him a shoulder pat. “Good luck on that one, Mest!” he laughed, “may I take over your next job when you get lost in the wilderness?”

“Very funny,” he replied without much emotion. “Mark my words,” he said with a grin, “I'll show her who's really worthy of participating in the S-Class trials.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There it is, chapter two!
> 
> I haven't received any feedback yet on this fic, but that's understandable since it's about a crackship.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this one ^^ (thanks again Chrissy for being my bèta ^^ )

Cana impatiently tapped her fingers on her folded arms. Leaning against the station's hall wall, she could catch a glimpse of the huge clock that was hanging just in front of the train they had to catch. Just five more minutes until he was too late. She sighed, it looked like she had to do the job all by herself after all—not that she cared, at least now she didn't have to share the reward and above all, she wouldn't have to team up with that freak.

A sudden shiver travelled down her spine. The wind that passed through made this spring morning a chilly one. She wished she didn't pack all of her warmer clothing on the bottom of her suitcase.

"Attention please. The train to Clover Central Station will leave in five minutes," a voice echoed through the speakers. Reluctantly, she picked up her bags and walked towards the train that had already started to spit out smoke.

She made herself comfortable at the window side of the soft, worn out couch. Out of one of her bags she pulled a checkered blanket and lay it over her legs. She stretched her arms and yawned. It would be a two hour ride, she better catch some sleep. She had been drinking again last night to relieve all the stress and anger she had bottled up that day. Just before she closed her eyes she looked at the clock that hovered above the train platform: 11 a.m. sharp. He didn't make it after all.

The train started to howl and whistle and Cana could feel the vehicle she sat in started to move. She closed her eyes despite her hangover, she had gotten used to it over the years anyway. "Just in time, that was pretty close, wasn't it?" a male voice said. She instantly opened her eyes, many times faster than she had shut them.

In front of her he sat—Mest—dressed in the same plain clothes he had worn yesterday. His hair, the length of a mere centimeter, was messy as much as possible with hair of that length. Cana was almost too surprised to open her mouth. "B-but how?! I could have sworn you weren't even in sight just a second ago!" Then it struck her; "You used your magic, didn't you?"

"I sure did," Mest said with a wide grin. "Can you imagine how convenient it is to teleport yourself to wherever you want in just mere seconds? Like, I was standing in my bedroom just 15 seconds ago, isn't it crazy?"

"There he goes." she thought, "bragging about his magic again." However, out loud, she replied, "It sure must be convenient to be such a freak."

"You sure are a harsh one, aren't you?" he said, "can't you tell me a little more about your magic then? "

"In your dreams" Cana sneered back at him. "I'm going to sleep right now. Don't you dare wake me up before we arrive in Clover."

"Could you at least tell me what our job is then?" asked Mest. "I'd like to be prepared."

"The request paper is in the blue bag I brought along," she mumbled with her eyes already closed as she tucked herself in with her blanket.

He walked over to her side and opened the small shoulder bag. Rolled up, the paper lay on top of the other stuff that was in the bag. He made use of the whole couch on his side to sit up straight against the window as he began to read the request:

'Wizards wanted for guarding the local trading route!' the title said.

'Our trading route, just outside the town of Clover has been attacked by bandits several times the past few weeks.

Wizards who guard the route and protect our merchants against these bandits for a week will be paid 10.000 jewel a day.

For catching the thieves, the reward is 500.000 jewel.'

His eyes widened in surprise. Half a million jewel sure was worth a job like this. However, he didn't think it would be a multiple day job. He didn't bring any spare clothes or sleeping supplies. It was too late to transport himself back and forth again to get his stuff. A limit to his magic was the fact that he couldn't transport himself to a moving vehicle. That would require extremely precise timing, something he hadn't mastered yet.

His eyes drifted off to the sleeping mage on the other side. She looked way more peaceful this way. When she wasn't drinking or shouting at people, she actually seemed like a nice person. She had beautiful eyes, long chocolate brown hair and if she smiled he was sure nobody in the guild would doubt she was pretty.

Mest wondered how she had gained this aggressive behaviour of hers. The only time she seemed cheerful was when she was drunk and messing around with friends. She had been this way for as long as he'd known her. She was two years younger than he was, but sometimes she was way more mature in her use of words and the way she acted against adults.

Cana wished she could fall asleep already, two hours of pretending to be fast asleep would only tire her even more. There was no way she would fall asleep with him so close right now. She could practically feel him staring at her. It started to annoy her how all guys were just the same, no matter who she teamed up with.

She decided to give up on her act when it started to feel like an eternity. As Cana opened her eyes she was surprised to not find him looking away from her quickly. He was just laying on the couch with his back towards the window. He had folded his arms and his head was slightly hanging down towards his chest. His eyes were closed and judging from the way his chest slowly and regularly moved up and down, he had succeeded where she had failed.

Mest didn't look half bad this way; from her point of view, all that his face showed was the giant scar that marked his cheek and crossed his eyebrow. She wondered how he gained it. It seemed way too big to be just from an accident. He was eighteen years old, he should have some facial hair by now, right? She couldn't discover any. She looked down at the request paper that was next to him. She was pissed she had to split the reward now if they succeeded in catching the bandits, however, maybe she wasn't able to take them on all by herself.

She looked up to him again, only to find him looking straight into her eyes. Quickly she looked away, hoping he didn't notice her inspecting him for a few minutes.

He laughed. "You were checking me out, weren't you?"

"You really think I was?" she fired back. "I'd rather stare out of the window for the whole two hours."

"Well, at least you're stuck with me for the next 7 days so you better get used to me," he said with a big grin on his face.

"Don't even think we'll be sharing the same space during our job! We'll split up, I can't afford being hindered by somebody else."

Suddenly the sound of rumbling train tracks was interrupted by an ear ringing screech of the brakes. Cana was thrown forward by the sudden stop of the train, almost landing on Mest's lap.

"I thought you said you wanted to split up?" he said teasingly.

"Oh shut up..." she murmured as she stood up and looked out of the window to see what caused the train to stop.

"We just received the message a tree has fallen on the tracks not too far from here. We ask our passengers to leave the train and wait for further instructions."

"They must be forgetting about the capability of the wizards they transport in this train." Cana said offendedly. "Let me show them just how useful we can be." She threw the blanket aside and ran towards the train doors.

"Cana, wait!"


	3. Chapter 3

Cana opened the train's door and jumped down, landing just next to the tracks. As she walked toward the front of the train , she already saw the blocking tree. "Jeez, they really have nobody around to deal with this stupid log?" she thought as she reached for some of her cards.

She walked up to the tree that was surrounded by the staff of the train. "Please go hide somewhere save," she requested with several magical cards in her hand. "I can take care of this tree, but I don't wanna injure anybody."

The people turned around upon the appearance of the young mage. "Did that girl just say she would handle it all by herself?" a man whispered towards his co-worker.

She lifted her shirt to reveal her pitch-black guildmark. "I'm a wizard and I'm with Fairy Tail. Please let me handle this situation."

That must have been enough to convince the train workers since they reluctantly started to get back into the train.

Cana let the cards float before her in a slightly curved line. Her face revealed the incredible focus that was needed for the spell she was about to cast. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Just a few meters behind her, her non-voluntary partner jumped out of the train. His eyes widened when he saw the card mage preparing to cast a spell. "Cana, that's a pretty big log, there is no way you ca—"

"Card Magic; Explosion!" she screamed as she waved out both hands to direct the spell towards the tree.

A huge blast followed, blowing the tree to pieces. In a matter of seconds the log had turned to dusty shreds that were thrown in all directions. The remaining parts scattered onto the train's tracks.

Mest threw himself on the ground just in time.

"Damn, my reaction time sure isn't what it could be," he thought. "If I only were a little faster I could have transported myself back into the train." He still didn't dare to move after the explosion; his ears were still ringing from it. Interestingly, he hadn't felt any heat like he had expected from a fire like that. Carefully, he lifted his head and looked up to see what had really happened. What he saw, immediately revealed the reason he hadn't felt a thing; Cana had put up a magic shield between the explosion and herself, including the train she had turned her back to. The shield was rising up from half a circle of cards that lay on the ground.

"I had no idea you could cast spells like that." The teleportation mage said as he got back up and dusted the forest soil off his clothes.

She quickly turned around, startled by the fact somebody apparently was still outside the train. The magic shield disappeared as she lost her focus. The dust and smoke that had been held back by the shield now drifted around her.

"Mest?! What the hell are you doing here?!" she yelled at him. "Didn't I command everybody to stay inside?!"

He was glad he wasn't able to hear her at full volume thanks to his recovering ears. "I just followed you because you were being reckless! I never heard anything about staying inside. It was too loud in the train because of the panicking passengers!"

She sighed. "Be grateful you weren't blown away. I haven't been able to master the magic shield for a long you see."

"You mean you were taking the risk of being hit by casting the spell?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, so what if I was?" she sneered back. "Now let me take care of the rest so the train can ride again."

"You should really come back onto the train again… this smoke and dust can't be good for you."

She snorted. "I'll be fine."

As she turned around towards the debris, she almost screamed; Mest had suddenly appeared right in front of her with only the change in air pressure as her only warning. He was merely a few inches away. "No, you won't be fine," he said as he stared into her eyes and grabbed her upper arm.

Cana felt her mind turn blank and the world started to spin around her. What the hell was going on?

Just a second later, she found herself falling flat down on the train's floor. She still felt dizzy and she couldn't understand what just happened. As she opened her eyes, she saw Mest sitting on the floor as well.

"What the hell did you just do to me?!" she yelled as she tried to sit straight up, but her head felt like her brains were twirling around in her skull, which made it hard to move.

"Calm down—I just transported us back to our compartment in the train,'' he said with a slight smile. "'This actually was the first time I transported somebody along with me, worked out pretty well, didn't it?"

"So you say there was no guarantee it would work?!" she blurted out in awe. "You put me in danger for that?!"

"Well, didn't you just do the same thing with that magic shield?" he answered as he stood up and sat back down on the couch. "As far as I'm concerned we're even now."

He made himself comfortable by lying with his back against the window again. "You even owe more to me, Cana. That tree was a Crimson Oak. When you burn its wood, its smoke can poison you."

"Yeah, whatever…." she replied dully, being able to let her brain process just half of his words. She decided it would take too much energy to discuss who owed who more and slowly stood up, dragging herself to her place at the window.

"That card magic you did back there was pretty awesome," he said. "I had no idea magic cards could be used like that. I thought they were only used for fortune telling and sleeping magic—stuff like that."

"The possibilities are endless as long as you keep on learning and improving as a wizard," she explained as she grabbed a bottle of beer from one of her bags. Cana never went anywhere without a supply of her beloved alcohol.

"I see, well the same counts for my magic," he said, "I can keep on improving it with hard work."

The train shook and slowly but steadily they could feel the train moving again.

"What did I tell ya?" Cana said as she took a sip from her bottle. "All they needed was a skilled wizard."

The rumbling tracks made the only sound that kept the silence from becoming awkward.

"So…" Mest started. "You can do some future telling?" he asked carefully. "I've seen you do it to your friends in the guild often enough."

''I sure can,'' she said, still not looking away from the bottle that already was half empty.

When she heard no response she casually looked at him from the corner of her eye. She nearly spit out her drink when she saw his face. He was trying to look like a begging puppy, there were just no words to describe how ridiculous he looked like.

"Fine, fine," she mumbled as she put down her bottle. Out of her bra she grabbed several cards and some more from the pockets of her pants. "But only if you get rid of that stupid look on your face."

She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs next to her bottle of booze. The card mage started to lay the cards upside down, next to each other. Mest curiously leaned in to have a better look at it.

Systematically, she put all the cards back in one pile. From the top of it, she took two cards and laid them next to each other on the floor.

Her cheeks gained a shade of red as she quickly turned the cards around again and added them to the pile.

"Well, what did my future say?"

"N-nothing," she said as she picked up the cards and hid them back into her clothes.

"Of course it said something," he said with distrust in his voice, "Why are you acting so weird? Was it that bad?"

She covered herself with her blanket. "It-it said you were going to fall down of a cliff within a week, okay?!" she yelled, muffled by the fabric.

"That's fine, I can always transport while falling down. Don't worry about it, okay?"

She didn't respond. Beneath her blanket she reached for the two cards she had just drawn.

Panic struck her since her predictions always came true. She just blankly stared at the cards in the little amount of light the blanket let through. One card showed two people underneath a tree and the other one was decorated with a big heart surrounded by thorny roses. Although she had never drawn these before, the meaning of the combination of the pictures of the cards was known to her:

'You'll fall in love within the next 7 days.'


	4. Chapter 4

Cana threw out most of her bags down on the train station's platform. She didn't even take the effort to look around the beautiful station. All she could think about was the fact she wished this mission was over already. She'd even give up drinking for a week if she could only skip these upcoming seven days.

"Man, I'm so glad that ride is over," Mest said as he stretched out his arms over his head. He glanced over his shoulder to his job partner, who had just stepped onto solid ground again.

"Aren't you?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

It was weird to see her so lost in thought. She was always very wary of her surroundings, but now she just stared into nothingness. The thought of turning around and asking her what was wrong crossed his mind for a split-second, but he decided not to. After all, she didn't choose to team up with him so he had to avoid making things worse.

"Excuse me," they heard a male voice say. They looked to their left and saw a rather plump and short gentleman walking up to them. "Are you by any chance the Fairy Tail wizards I've requested?"

Mest pulled up his sleeve to reveal the crimson red guildmark on his upper arm. "We sure are!"

"Wonderful!" The man reached out his arm. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Tiresias, Tiresias Black."

The transportation mage shook his hand. "I'm Mest, Mest Gryder."

"Nice to meet you," Tiresias said and turned to the right to shake the card mage's hand, "and you are?"

She absently shook his hand. "Cana's the name. Cana Alberona."

"So, Cana and Mest, eh?" he said and put his hands together, "That's just wonderful. It's beautiful to see the younger generation of wizards takes on jobs now."

Cana had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. She was on edge and it wouldn't take much more to make her snap.

The merchant reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small, neatly folded map. "On this map, I've drawn the exact way to the merchant route and the place you'll stay for the next week." He pointed at the meandering red line that crossed the piece of paper. "I don't expect you will make it in one day so I've made sure to contact the owner of an inn that's on your route. You can stay there tonight."

He handed over the map to Mest, who carefully put it in his pocket. "Anything else you'd like to know about the job?"

"Yeah," Cana said, to Mest's surprise. "Is it guaranteed that we'll encounter the bandits? I mean, I'm not gonna survey all day and night with this—" she pointed to Mest, "—by my side, if there's nothing else to do."

"Hey, come on, Cana! I know I'm boring, but could you please at least try to be a little nicer to your job-partner?!" Mest blurted out. He knew it was a bad idea to raise his voice at her, but he couldn't take this humiliation any longer. "This wasn't my idea either!"

Cana's eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen him like this and she didn't expect him to snap either. "If you don't want to team up with me so badly, why don't ya just transport yourself back to the guild?! Crybaby!" the card mage backfired.

"I would if I wanted to, but unlike you I don't disappoint my clients!" he yelled back at her as he took a step closer.

She felt the anger inside her mix with all the stress she had built up over the past few hours. It all mixed into a dangerous soup of rage that boiled within her, ready to come out.

She took a step forward as well, grabbed the collar of his vest, and pulled him down to her own height. "One more insult and I'll burn your hair off with my cards," she hissed as she looked deeply into his widened eyes.

"Come, come!" Tiresias tried to calm down the fighting mages. "Let's not harm each other before harming the thieves, shall we?" he said carefully as he forced a smile.

Cana let go of Mest, turned on her heels, and walked away from him. "I'll just go ahead. I don't need a worthless partner to fulfill this mission anyway."

Mest and Tiresias exchanged a glance. "Ehm, young lady," the merchant carefully said.

"Yeah, what?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder.

"I don't doubt your sense of direction, but the route is over there," he said as he pointed in the complete opposite direction. Behind him Mest grinned as he held the map next to his face.

"It's getting dark, are we almost there yet?" Cana whined.

Mest looked at the map. The inn shouldn't be far away according to it. "Just a hundred more metres."

"Why can't you just use your stupid magic to teleport us there?" the card mage said.

"I can't. I can only transport back to places I've physically been to before. And the longer the distance, the more magical power it requires."

"Tch, you really are worthless."

He almost had to bite his tongue to keep himself from snapping. "Hold on Mest, you're almost there." he repeated silently to himself.

Suddenly it hit him—the thing that he had tried to remember since the train ride—he still didn't have his bags of clothing and food to survive this week. There was just one way to retrieve all that from his home in Magnolia. He stood still and closed his eyes. Cana couldn't see him properly and bumped into his back.

"Bastard! Don't just stand still when I'm walking behind you, what the hell are you—"

Her words were cut off by the realisation he wasn't standing there anymore.

"M-Mest?" she carefully said as she looked around, but she couldn't see him anywhere. "Y-you can't be serious, right? Did really just freaking leave me just because I called you worthless?!"

She raised her voice, "That's fine by me! I wanted to do this on my own anyway!"

She inhaled deeply and with big steps she continued walking. But which way did she have to go? The path was barely visible as it was getting darker and darker. The silent forest had started to rustle and the wind was getting stronger. Cana felt her skin form bumps and took off one of her bags to pull out a jacket.

As she kneeled down, she looked around one more time. There was no orientation point and she could hardly see the outlines of the trees that surrounded her. She was lost. She hated to admit it, but she couldn't do this alone. She put on her jacket and sat down, leaning her back to one of the forest's trees.

"What am I gonna do now?" she asked herself. "If I just walk around I'll get lost, but if I stay here nobody will ever find me. I can't just stay the night here."

Suddenly, she heard the sound of branches being cracked not far from where she was sitting.

"Who's there?!" she yelled as she jumped up. She could feel the adrenaline rush through her veins. It couldn't be, right? There couldn't just be creepy creature trying to attack her right at the moment she was left alone.

When she didn't get a response, she didn't hesitate any longer and jumped into the bushes where the sound had come from. Her body hit something heavy followed by a scream of what she had hit. Cana looked down at what she had tackled, and in the heavily dimmed light, she could distinguish a face, one with a huge scar covering the right side.

"What the hell, Cana! What was that for?" he groaned as his face contorted in pain.

"Mest?!" she exclaimed as she immediately jumped off him. "Where were you? I thought you had left!"

"I was just picking up my bags," he said, still slightly panting because he had used up too much of his magical energy.

The card mage let the information slowly sink in. "You let me think you left me alone, bastard! I'm so sick of your mag—"

"Wait," he said and lifted his head when he spotted something in the distance. "Is that light over there?"

The Inn was small, but probably capable enough of hosting passerby travelers. When Cana opened the big wooden door, a big man already stood in front of them.

"Welcome!" he said. "You must be the mages Tiresias contacted me about! Come in, come in."

Mest put down his bags next to the bar and Cana carelessly dropped hers at a random place at the floor.

"My name is Doranbolt," the man introduced himself as he shook Mest's hand.

"I'm Mest," he said back. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the brunette had already dragged herself to the bar. "And that girl over there is Cana." He sighed. "I don't expect much from her as long as she keeps that attitude, so I'll bring all the bags upstairs," Mest said as he started to lift the bags onto his shoulder.

"Your room is up the stairs, the second door to the right," Doranbolt informed him.

Slowly, he managed to drag all the bags upstairs. It sure was a lot they had to bring along for going away for a week. He was annoyed by the unnecessary weight of bottles that Cana had brought along, even though she had drunk several of them already.

Finally he arrived at the room the inn owner had pointed out. He used his back to open the door. It was dark, but in the middle of the room he could see an oil lamp. He dropped all the bags into one pile and lit the wick.

The room was now weakly lighted and he could distinguish a table, a few chairs, a wardrobe and a single bed. He held the lamp to the other side of the room to see where the other bed was.

But there was just one.

"This can't be true," he thought as he planted a hand to his face.

"I think there was a misunderstanding about the room," Mest said as he quickly came down the stairs. "There is just one be—"

He stopped running as he realised how bad the situation he was witnessing: Cana laying on her arms flat down on the bar. In front of her were two empty bottles of wine. She looked up when she heard the noise of him walking down the stairs. The card mage turned her head towards him.

"Ish that you Mest?" she said, obviously already tipsy. "Why dontcha come ovher here? The wine is amaaaazing~"

Oh, how much he wished he'd stayed home this morning.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, that's enough alcohol for today." Mest said as he guided Cana up the stairs. She could barely walk and was talking nonsense non-stop. Thank Mavis she's willing to cooperate,he thought, this would have been a nightmare if she turned aggressive.

He looked to his side, where the card mage senselessly hung on his neck. His arm was draped around her back to prevent her from falling sideward. With his free hand, he opened the room's door. Luckily, he had left the oil lamp burning. He dragged her to the only bed in the room and carefully let her sit down on the edge.

He turned around to unpack his sleeping bag from his belongings. He sighed, there was no other option then to sleep on the floor tonight. From his bag, he retrieved a blue, old fashioned sleeping bag, which he laid down in a corner of the room.

When he turned around to grab his pillow, a sound nearly escaped his lips when Cana suddenly stood before him. Her eyes had a glaze as if she was staring into nothingness and a bright blush was visible on her cheeks and nose.

"Jeez, don't scare me like that!" the transportation mage said as he turned away to avoid her. "Please go to sleep already. Tomorrow we still have to walk, at least—" He stopped talking when he felt hands on both of his shoulders.

"We don't have to sleep, y'know?" he heard her whisper into his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

"Cana, what the hell?!" he yelled as he quickly turned around. He had heard stories from Natsu and Gray about how drunk Cana could get on wine, but he never imagined it'd be this bad. She rested her arms around his neck and brought her face closer to his.

"What'zz wrong?" she said as she pouted her lips, "don't tell me you've never done things with a girl before."

He felt his face fluster and hoped it wasn't that visible in the dimmed light. "That's what not what this is about!" he said as he took a step back. "You're drunk and can't think clear. Just go to sleep and it'll all be over. You're gonna regret this so much tomorrow."

"I ain't regretting anything ever," she laughed, followed by a hiccup. Cana laid her hand on his cheek and let it travel down over his scar. "You sure you don't wanna try?"

Mest grabbed her forearm and held it down as he brought his face closer to hers. "Now listen up," he hissed, "if you don't just go to bed already, I'll inform Gramps about this behaviour of yours. It might even be enough reason to prohibit you from participating in the S-Class trials and that's something nobody should be proud of."

Her eyes widened and her facial expression softened. She freed her arm from his firm grip and turned around towards the bed. She climbed on it, but instead of lying down, she sat down with her arms clenched around her knees. Thick tears started to travel down from her eyes.

"N-not even dad would be proud of me?" she sobbed.

He looked at her in bewilderment. "Cana?" He carefully said, "You don't have a dad, right? You're an orphan, just like me and many others in the guild."

"W-what are you talking about?" she said as she looked at him with wet eyes. "My dad's in the guild. You know him too."

Mest could almost literally feel his brain processing. She was just drunk rambling, right? He knew everyone in the guild since he was a little kid. He would have known it if Cana's dad was one of them.

He sighed and sat down next to her. "Cana, who are you talking about? I would have known it if any of the members of the guild were related."

She looked confused. "What do you mean? My dad is Gildarts, of course."

For as far as it was possible, he became even more confused. "Cana, is that really true or is he just a father figure to you?"

She averted her eyes away from him again. "He doesn't know I'm his daughter," she said, now a little calmer. "But I won't tell him until I'm a S-Class mage."

He was pretty sure that due Cana's level of alcohol in her blood, he was told something he wasn't supposed to know. What if she found out she had told him this secret? Mest stood up and walked over to his sleeping bag on the ground. "Just go to sleep, you'll need the energy tomorrow."

After he had been lying down for a couple of minutes, he could hear her crawling beneath the blankets. Finally.

He knew there was one thing left to do to make sure she wouldn't remember anything about sharing her deepest secret with him. He was convinced that Cana didn't know about his secondary magic. Only Makarov was aware of this ability of his.

He waited for half an hour to make sure she had fallen asleep. Carefully, he crept out of his sleeping bag and on to his toes, he sneaked towards her bed. The magic he had to use was way easier for him than using transportation magic, but he barely ever used it because it was dangerous when used incorrectly.

Gingerly, he leaned over her bed to see where her face was. To make a successful memory erase he needed to touch a person's temples.

That was the secondary magic he possessed. It was called a gift by Makarov and Mest had been warned that he could only use this magic with permission since it had dangerous effects. Also, he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about this magic to avoid Dark Guilds from hearing of the existence of a mage with such mental power. Not only could he erase memories of other people, but he also could erase his own memory and manipulate minds and memories at will. When you start to think about the possibilities you'll find out that they're endless.

In the dimmed, golden lantern light, he could distinguish her face. She was fast asleep, not surprising after such a large amount of liquor. He couldn't help but smile. She looked so valuable right now; behind that screaming, troublemaking girl's mask was a real face. She was just like any other girl, but to keep people from knowing her true self she always put up an act.

He wondered, Would the real Cana ever show herself?

He let the tips of his index fingers hover over her temples. "This is for the best," he whispered as he closed his eyes to focus. "Good night."


	6. Chapter 6

The first rays of sunshine peeked through the inn's room window, landing precisely on Cana's face. Grumbling, she turned over, hoping she would slumber back into her sleep, but it was no use. She stared at the wall she was facing now.

Cana couldn't remember a lot from the day before; the last thing she remembered was drinking the first glass of wine at the bar. Then it hit her: she wasn't in her own bedroom, she was in the inn, on her way to the place she had to carry out her job. The job she wasn't carrying out alone, but with her partner. Her eyes widened as she now remembered. The train ride, the travel to the inn, her card's prediction. Everything.

She turned around once more, to her original position, and glanced over to the other side of the room. There, in the furthest corner on the floor, a blue hump was lying. Some short, messy raven hair peeking out of it.

Panic struck her, how drunk had she been? Was she drunk enough to have been involving Mest in it?

She tried to tell herself to calm down, but the fact that she remembered drinking wine wasn't helping in the least. If there was one thing that turned her into a flirting mess it was that kind of alcohol.

It still was kind of weird. She barely ever got amnesia after drinking. This must have been the first time this year. No matter how hard she tried, no memory after that glass of wine would come back to her mind. She silently crept out of bed and started to undress herself since she had been sleeping in the clothes she had been wearing for several days. She took off her shirt and when she started to unbutton her pants she glanced over her shoulder when she noticed a sound.

She looked down at the mage that had just woken up. His cheeks had attained a slightly different colour and the look in his eyes revealed he had just realised how screwed he was.

"Wait, th-this isn't what it looks like, I just woke up and—" he couldn't even finish his sentence as a pillow was smashed right into his face.

"You guys are all the same! I can't believe I agreed on sleeping in the same room with you!" Cana screamed as she tried to cover up herself with the shirt she was still holding onto. "I bet you've done things to me when I was drunk too!"

He shoved the pillow aside, freed himself from the sleeping bag and stood up straight. "You really think I'd do something like that?" he said, in a softer voice than Cana was expecting. "Do you really think that lowly of me?"

Normally she would instantly have sneered back, but the sight of seeing him so down left her without a reply.

He walked straight past her and grabbed his bags. "We're leaving in half an hour. I'll meet you downstairs," he said and walked out the room, without making any eye-contact.

She stared at the door that just closed behind him. What was she doing? She just falsely accused him out of nowhere. All out of frustration of not remembering anything from last night. And the way he had sounded after her outburst, she felt really bad about it.

No way were her cards right, no one would ever have feelings for someone who would do that to them.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was at his highest point, driving away the rainclouds that circled around the traveling mages. They were meters apart, neither of them speaking a word.

Cana was sure Mest was capable of reading the map correctly and just followed him, what else could she do?

"Hey"

"Hm?"

"A-about last night," she hesitantly started. "Did I like... do anything?"

"Yes, you were talking nonsense non-stop," he said as he looked over his shoulder.

"I don't really mean that, did I do... you know…things? To you?"

"To me?" he said as he raised an eyebrow. "You mean talking to me?"

She was losing patience over his denseness. "Did I flirt with you, damnit!" she blurted out.

"Flirt with me?" he said as he now stood still and faced her. "Not that I can recall."

She let out an audible sigh.

"Unless you count pushing me against the wall to make out with me as flirting."

Her face turned blank. "Oh. My. God," she whispered as she felt the ground sink away beneath her. Actually, she wished the ground really did sink, so she didn't have to be in this awkward mess anymore.

"You should have seen your face!" He burst out in laughter, barely able to talk as he tried to catch his breath. "I thought you were gonna faint for a second!"

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. Did he really just trick her? She reached for her bag that still had some bottles in it. "You asshole!" she yelled as she threw the heavy travel bag at him.

It was no use. The sound of glass scattering on the rocks on the side of the road were proof that she had missed her target.

"At least we're out of booze now," she heard him say from behind her.

"I can't believe you!" Cana raged. "Why do you ruin everything?!"

"Ruin?" he said. "I'm just being reasonable, unlike you. If you want this job to be a success, we have to work together, whether you want it or not."

She didn't even feel like going against him anymore. Deep down inside she knew being mad at him was getting them nowhere. For now, she would keep her mouth shut.

"If we use these trees, we could set up a tent big enough for both of us."

"No way am I sharing a tent with you," Cana said, crossing her arms.

"You'll have to since I'm the only one clever enough to bring a tent," he said, already starting to tie a rope around one of the trees.

"I didn't forget mine," she sneered. "I just always camp in the open air."

"Fine, that just means more space for me."

The card mage walked over to a spot beneath a tree that seemed rather flat and covered it with the blanket she brought along. On top of it, she spread out her sleeping bag and pillow.

"See? Easy as that."

"Good luck with the rain," he replied, now draping the tent sheet over the horizontal rope. "If you have spared so much time, you better use that to gather some branches for the fire."

"Tch."

She knew he was right, it was no use to refuse to cooperate. The better they worked together, the sooner this would be over.

Reluctantly, she walked towards the dense forest. They had settled on the edge of the woods, just close enough to the merchant route to see it. According to Tiresias, it was around this place people were known to be attacked by the bandits. She wondered, wouldn't a fire reveal their hiding place? The smoke that came from it would certainly be noticed if the bandits remained nearby.

Then it hit her. Her cards.

They didn't need to make a fire as long as she could use her cards to create a magic fire.

She turned around and walked back to the camp. "No need for wood anymore!" she yelled. "We can use my magic to—"

She was stopped in her tracks when she saw the scene before her.

In front of their sleeping places, food was stalled out. This wasn't just the canned food she brought along, but freshly baked bread, vegetables of at least 10 sorts, slices of meat, and several pans and cauldrons to cook it all with. Mest sat on a huge log that he must have rolled over to their camping place.

He waved his arms out. "So, what do you think?" From behind the log he picked up a bottle. "I even brought some drinks."

She closed her mouth, apparently her jaw had dropped upon this sight.

"But how?" she said in awe. "There is no way this was all in your bag."

"Just before we left, Doranbolt offered to provide us with food for this week."

"But the inn is almost a day of walking from here, how did you—" then she realised it. "You used your magic?"

"Indeed," he replied, sounding pretty pleased with his accomplishment. "But what did you say about using your magic?"

"Well," she started, "if we use magic fire created from my cards, no smoke will come off it. That way we can't get discovered by the bandits."

"That's brilliant!" he said in surprise. "Let's start cooking then, I'm starving."

For the first time in days a smile crossed her face. Who would have thought combining their magic would be the key to working together. Maybe this mission wasn't so bad after all.


	7. Chapter 7

Cana dreamily stared at the starlit sky. It had been a beautiful evening, it was a shame the sun sets so quickly in the spring. They must have been talking for hours straight and they would still be talking if it weren't for Mest persuading her to take a rest after all the walking they did that day.

She was happy she had changed her mind about the mission; after they had made and eaten dinner together, they had exchanged their stories during a sunset that seemed to last forever.

Cana had told him about the death of her mother when she was just five years old and how she found shelter at the Fairy Tail guild, careful to leave out all details about her famous father. In his turn, he told her about how he was found as a baby, abandoned. No one knew if he was left intentionally or something had happened to his parents. Makarov had taken him in without a second thought.

He had made her laugh with his stories about Natsu trying to pick a fight with him because of their identical guild marks (even though Natsu had gotten it years later), about Gray stripping to clients when they were taken on a mission by Macao to gain work experience, and about how he was sent out of the pool for pushing everyone in by using transportation magic.

Mest was glad he had finally seen her laughing. Just a day ago he only could wonder what it would be like to see her real self, and he was almost certain he had seen it today. Never before had he seen her so cheerful. He had no idea where the sudden change of attitude had come from, but he sure wasn't complaining.

He folded his arms behind his head and stared at his tent's ceiling, letting his thoughts wonder freely. Why did she get angry so fast? He was glad he contained himself this morning. It just wouldn't be fair to be mad at her after he just wiped out a part of her memory.

His stomach clenched with guilt as he recalled his impulsive action. Should he tell her? Maybe it was for the best not to. The regret would fade away with time, wouldn't it? His thoughts grew vaguer and vaguer into a colorless silence and slowly he drifted off into a deep sleep.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of footsteps on the woody soil, the cracking of twigs, and the feint scratches on the fabric of his tent. Still half asleep, Mest took in all of these sounds. It would take a few more seconds until his brain would realize what his ears had heard.

He sat straight up, while cold sweat started to evaporate from his back. He shivered. He didn't know if it was from the cold, or rather the terror of not knowing what was happening.

''Who's there?!'' he called out, as he tried to reach for the matches to light his lantern.

''It's me.'' He heard a girl's muffled voice from outside. ''Please don't make such noise.''

He sighed in relief. It was just Cana. ''What's wrong?'' he asked.

''I think I heard a wagon approaching.'' She replied.

''That's not surprising,'' he said. ''We're camping close to the road we're supposed to watch over. Of course people will be passing by. Don't worry, we'll hear it when merchants are being attacked.''

''You sure?'' she asked.

''I promise,'' he said. ''Now please go to sleep, we gotta catch all the sleep we can to stay alert during other parts of the day.''

''Okay, goodnight,'' she quickly said and he heard her walk back to her tree.

''Goodnight,'' he whispered.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun enlightened the fabric of his temporary home, quickly warming up the space. Lazily, he opened his eyes. He could hear birds chirping and the first thing he realized was that he was soaking in his sleeping bag. Quickly, he unzipped himself out of the one man-stove.

That's weird, he thought. He could have sworn it was a chilly night. Then it struck him. He had had a nightmare. He couldn't remember all of it, but he was sure Cana was caught by bandits in his dream.

Quickly, he got dressed and ran out of his tent. He knew it was just a dream, but he had been so sound asleep he could have slept through everything.

The sweat on his back turned cold yet again.

Next to the smoldering campfire stood the tree Cana had been sleeping under. Only a blanket occupied the space between its roots.

''This can't be true,'' he quietly said to himself. He heard his own words of last night echo through his head: ''I promise.''

He had lied. Of course he couldn't wake up at any suspicious sound or distinguish merchant from bandits by the sound of the wagons. He had just told her that to make her feel less worried. But now it has backfired.

She was gone. They took her.

He kicked the giant log that had been sitting on. ''This can't be true!''


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for supporting this fic :) It's hard to write for crackships because of the rare feedback but it still surprises me how many reads they get! (Barely ever a review though :p) So feedback would be really nice to have, to see if you guys still like the way this story is progressing :)

''Cana!'' He shouted as he ran towards the road. Maybe they hadn't gotten far yet.

Almost tripping over his own feet and running out of breath, he reached the sandy soil in which wagon tracks still could be seen. He quickly turned his head left and right.

''Cana are you there?!'' He tried one more time, this time cupping his hands around his mouth.

The panic kept rising and he found himself panting in total loss. This was bad. Really bad. Just the thought of Makarov finding out about this made his guts hurt. He was the older one, and would probably be found responsible for her.

Not only that. He also felt miserable thinking about what might have happened to her. Was it normal to feel such concern for someone who didn't seem to care about him at all? Was it because they were bonded by the guild? That must be it. People from the same guild care for each other, no matter the circumstances.

Then it hit him. Memories of the day before flashed back before his eyes. They had spent hours and hours talking at the fireplace. They made food together. They had been laughing, making fun of people in the guild and shared memories they didn't have in common. Cana's mood had been totally different from that morning. Maybe she had realised how hard she had been on him.

Yet again the guilt started to consume him. He had ensured her nothing would happen. Now she was gone and there was no way to figure out which way the wagon had gone. It could already be miles away.

He walked back to the camp, he couldn't risk letting all their stuff alone.

Hands in his hair, he could only wonder about how to handle this situation. ''What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!'' His nails dug into his scalp as he was pacing up and down in front of the tent.

Should he transport himself back to Doranbolt? No, that wasn't an option. Doranbolt was in direct contact with Tiresias. If he found out, the mission would be over, without a doubt. Would he risk the whole mission just to get some help on something he might be able to do by himself as well?

''I should have never let her sleep outdoors in the first place.'' He said to himself as he sat down at the log next to the fireplace. He folded his hands on his knees and let his forehead rest against them. ''It's my fault. I'll transport myself back to the guild and take full responsibility. Only then I can bring more people back with me to help me search.''

''Search for what?'' He suddenly heard a voice behind him say.

As if being stung he turned around. Only to gaze upon the tall girl standing in front of him.

''Cana?!'' He said in awe, trying hard to keep his jaw closed.

''Uhm yeah? It's me, who else were you expect- '' She couldn't even finish her sentence as she was almost thrown backward by his body hitting hers. ''What the hell are you doing?!'' The card mage exclaimed.

''I'm just really glad you're okay.'' He sighed softly.

Still trying to figure out what this all was about, Cana couldn't even bring herself to instantly sneer back and push him away. Just everything in this one moment felt in place. They way he held her, how her face was pressed against his shoulder, allowing her to take in the scent of his clothes and skin. Most of it still smelt like the food and the fire from last night.

For the first time she didn't feel the urge to push him away, to push anyone away in general. Normally her pride would be way too strong to let someone near her like that.

Slowly he let go of her. ''Just where have you been? I thought you had been kidnapped!''

''Do you see a bathroom over here?'' She wittily replied.

She could clearly see his face had reddened and the corners of his eyes revealed they had been teary. Had he really been that worried over her?

A scream in the distance brought them both back to reality. In an instant they turned around to the direction the scream had come from. By exchanging just one glance they knew what was up. Bandits.

As quickly as they could they started to run towards the road. ''I can spot them now,'' He quietly said. ''I'll transport myself there, take care.''

She picked up her pace as the sight now also became clear for her. A small wagon loaded with barrels had been halted by a group of three men. With a big jump she jumped over the bushes that formed the border between the forest and the road and instinctively grabbed her cards out of her bra.

''Card Magic, Thunder!'' she shouted as she send the cards flying to two men who were trying to unload some barrels. They quickly jumped back, avoiding the attack.

Suddenly two arms grabbed her tight from under her armpits, leaving her standing helpless with her hands up in the air.

''Well well, look what we have here.'' She heard a voice rasp way too close to her ear. The foul smell of a strong tobacco breath made her feel sick. ''A young wizard, eh? You will fetch us a nice prize at an auction in Basco.''

She turned her head and spit him in the face. ''Now!'' She yelled.

Out of nowhere a fist hit the man from the side in his face. Instantly he let go of Cana to grab his jaw.

''Keep your filthy paws of her!'' Mest yelled as he held his arm high to hit a second time if needed. He turned to Cana, who had managed to keep on standing straight after being released from the man's grip. ''Are you okay?'' He asked.

''Yeah I'm fine,'' she replied and looked at the man who was still wining about his jaw. ''Just super pissed.''

With half a spin, she manage to land two cards on the men she had been aiming for first. Both of them were struck to the ground as they were hit by explosive cards.

''T-that bitch is crazy!'' One of them let out. ''Let's get outta here!''

Almost tripping over their feet, the three man ran towards their wagon and drove away as fast as possible.

''Shouldn't we stop them?'' Cana said as she turned to Mest. ''The reward will be bigger if we catch them, right?''

''That's true, but something isn't right.'' He said, lost in thought. ''These guys were total pushovers, it was no challenge to beat them. Something tells me this is just a small bunch of their actual crew.''

''If we encounter them all at once, how are we supposed to actually catch them if there's just two of us?'' She asked.

He turned his head to her and Cana could have sworn she saw his eyes flickering. ''I think I might have an idea.''


	9. Chapter 9

''Cana, are you sure about staying out there?'' Mest asked as he lay in his tent, resting his arms behind his head. ''I really gotta feeling it might rain.''

''For the third time; yes. I trust my cards.'' She irritatedly sneered back from outside.

''You know fortune telling isn't always correct, right?''

No response.

It had been some time ever since they had encountered the bandits. They had spent the whole day time after it on planning out Mest's idea on capturing them. It sure was a risky plan ,but if they wanted to both get rid of the bandits and claim the full reward, this was their only option.

Mest looked up to the tent's ceiling. It was just barely visible now, as the sun had set and it was getting darker. Its surface was interrupted by a dark dot, followed by a dripping sound. Another dot appeared next to it, and another one, until the cloth was soon covered by polka dots of water. The sound of rain coming down on the tent was ruffling like a drum and muted the curses he could hear from outside.

He grinned. ''You still sure?''

Suddenly Cana came storming into the entrance. ''Fine, fine!'' She muttered as she quickly closed the cloth that was supposed to be the door. ''I can barely see a thing out here, can you lit the lantern?''

He sat up and lighted a matchstick to lit the wick of the oil lantern. In the little light it gave off, he could see her drenched face. Her hair had formed strains and water dripped down from her nose.

''That water sure came falling fast, didn't it?'' He chuckled. ''You're soaked.''

She didn't answer, but just sat down and looked the other way. ''I can't believe my cards weren't right.'' She said in disbelief. ''They've barely ever been wrong ever since I mastered reading them, I haven't made a wrong prediction in years.''

''Well,'' He tried his very best to say something in an attempt to cheer her up. ''it also predicted I would fall off a cliff and that didn't happen either, right?''

She could feel her face changing temperature as she realised he still remembered her prediction in the train. She had lied to him. There was just no way of telling him what the cards had really said. It was too ridiculous to be true.

''That might still happen.'' She softly said, silently hoping he hadn't noticed her face's colour change in the bad lighting. ''T-the cards predicted it would happen between then and a week. So that means there are still three more days left.''

Cana couldn't take this anymore, if she would talk more about this subject there was no way he wouldn't notice her hiding something. She had to change subject quick.

She looked up to the ceiling, that was no longer suffering from the heavy rain. ''The rain stopped.'' She quickly mentioned and stood up to make her move to get back outside again. Around her wrist, she was being kept back. Cana looked back, straight into his steel grey eyes.

''So you're saying you're planning on going out there and sleep in your soaked sleeping bag?'' He said in all seriousness.

''So what if I am?!'' She shouted back as she pulled her wrist back.

''You really are hopeless.'' He replied. ''You're wearing an armour around yourself just as badly as Erza.''

She couldn't even respond anymore. He was right. So damn right. But there was no way she would ever admit that. A loaded silence filled the air between them.

''My mattress isn't that too small for two people'' He broke the silence, ''and you can have my sleeping bag, I'll sleep under the blanket I brought. '' he laid down on the thin mattress and covered himself with the piece of cloth. ''Just stay here tonight and we'll dry your sleeping bag tomorrow morning, okay?''

She looked at his back that he had turned to her. Behind it lay a comfortable looking sleeping bag. Of course she would prefer that over a soaked, stone cold one outside but agreeing would mean hurting her pride. This wasn't even a choice anymore. She knew that. But admitting someone is right wasn't one of her strong points.

She sighed and gave up.

He could hear her getting into the sleeping bag and smiled in relief. Finally he had gotten through to her.

''Goodnight.'' He said.

For a moment she didn't know what to say back. Hearing his voice from so close in such a deep tone somehow left her in awe. Never had she considered him attractive back in the guild. It was probably being together twenty four seven that made her notice features of his that she had never noticed before. His broad shoulders, how soft his hair looks and how serious he could get.

His words from earlier that day still echoed through her mind; ''Keep your filthy hands off her!''

Somehow thinking back about that moment made her so glad to have him around on this mission. She felt safe, knowing he would be near and always able to back her up.

''You okay?'' Mest asked as he leaned back to look over his shoulder.

She opened her eyes and realized she hadn't told him goodnight. He had rolled back a little bit to look behind him. She could see a glimpse of one of his eyes, as it reflected the last light from the oil lamp.

''Yeah don't worry. I just fell asleep already.''

She could hear him quietly snort. ''Weirdo.''

''Says the one who transports food because he's too lazy to walk.'' She teasingly replied.

He turned back to his sleeping position. ''You got me there.'' He laughed. ''Sleep well.''

''Goodnight.'' She said back. Cana was glad he was facing the other way, or he would have seen the brightest smile she had worn in months.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning Cana woke up alone. Judging from the brightness of the daylight that could be seen through the tent's fabric she must have slept far into the day. She got up, still wearing the clothing she had worn ever since she left. As she crawled through the exit of the tent and let her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight she stood for the same scene she had awed at two days ago.

Over the campfire a kettle with stew was brewing and on some stones fresh bread was cooling down. Between the trees hung her sleeping bag, still looking like it would never dry. Out of nowhere, the air close to the smoke of the fire started to ripple and Mest landed down in the sand next to it.

''Whooh, that was a close one, almost cooked myself.'' He laughed. He put down the fruit he was carrying and sat down on the log close to the fire. ''Have some breakfast.''

Cana was stunned. Did he really go to Teresias again to pick up the best food? Couldn't they just bring along some canned food and live of that for a just a few days?

Cana modestly sat down on the log as well. ''Good morning to you too.'' She said as she took a huge bite from a piece of bread.

''Did you sleep well?'' He asked, clearly being more focussed on the orange he tried to peel. ''I hope I didn't roll over tonight, did I?''

''Nah, you slept like a rose.'' She lazily said back.

''Stupid juice orb'' He muttered at the piece of fruit in his hands that was more falling apart than actually turning into something consumable. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye he could spot a glistering from within the woods. Like the sun had reflected on something shiny. Something metal.

''GET DOWN!'' Mest yelled as he leaped forward. Throwing himself over the log Cana was sitting on and dragging her down with him in the progress.

Two gunshots followed.

Cana wanted to scream but Mest had already covered her mouth with his hand.

''They have real guns.'' Mest whispered. ''Actual real guns. No wonder these bandits are infamous then.''

Cana removed his hand from her face. ''I can fight'' she said just not loud enough to be heard by the intruders. ''Let me fight.''

''Cana there is no way we can fight them.'' He said rushed. ''Your card aren't faster than their bullets and I can't knock them out. I haven't been on the spot they are standing right now.''

It was only now that Cana was aware of their bodies almost completely overlapped and how close his face was to hers.

''I know you can fight, and I know I can fight, but we stand no chance against bullets. We would die in an instant.''

''They fell down behind that log.'' They heard a rasping male voice yell. ''Go get them!''

Mest looked back at Cana, who looked like she couldn't bring out another word. Tears seemed to well up in her eyes. ''I know it is hard to run, we have always been taught to never walk away from a fight but this isn't about magic against magic anymore.''

''I know.'' She quietly said as a tear streamed down her face. ''Just get us out of here already.''

''Okay, stay close to me.'' He said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and let her face rest on his chest.

A third bullet ricocheted of the soil above where the air rippled.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Finally! It's hard to write when your inpiration comes in waves that arrive every 4 months or so but I'm glad I manage to write a new chapter because I absolutely love writing on this story. It is far from over yet, so look out for more! ^^

''We have to get back there, we can't leave it like this!'' Cana let out.

Mest helplessly looked at her. It had been a few hours since he had transported them back to the Inn and Cana has been sitting on the edge of her bed with her hands in her hair ever since. ''I know, but there is no way we can carry out my plan now that they have an advantage.''

''We can't stay here either, regardless of what Doranbolt says,'' Cana said. ''Those people are hunting us and I don't want to bring others into danger.''

''We've been driven into a corner…'' Mest sighed. ''This might be exactly what they had planned to do as soon as people would get in their way.''

''Then what now?!'' Cana shouted. ''Go back to the guild to let people know we failed and let the people here be terrorized by those bastards?!''

''We need a way around the guns,'' Mest said, lost in thought as he leaned to the door post. Neither of their magic is able to deflect bullets in any way. Then it hit him. ''There actually is a way...'' he mumbled.

Cana lifted her head. ''You really have a new plan?''

He turned to face her. Her eyes were blood-shot from stress and her hair all messy. ''Nevermind," he said as he averted his gaze again. ''It's a bad idea.''

Cana stood up and walked over to him. ''If you have an idea, then tell me,'' she slowly said to him with a gaze that was as serious as the narrow situation they were in.

''I won't.''

Cana took a step forward and grabbed his shoulders tight. ''This is not the time to be all emo and get cold feet! Just tell me the damn plan!''

"I won't !'' He raised his voice.

''Why not?!''

''Because it will put you in danger!'' he suddenly blurted out. She loosened her grip. His stone grey eyes seemed to pierce her and she couldn't help but notice how rapid his breathing was. He sighed in an attempt to calm down. ''There is a way to disarm them, but it will put you at high risk.''

''Then so it may be,'' she stubbornly reacted. ''Who cares if I get hurt?''

''I do!'' he said.

Cana froze. She felt her blood rise up and spread warmth all over her face.

Her reaction made the tension grow between them and he felt her grip on his shoulder reduce to almost nothing.

''...and ehm- all the other people. Of the guild.'' He tried to save himself out of his spontaneous reaction, but his normally calm talk was lagging. ''Everyone would care.''

''I understand," she notably, quietly said as she let her arms fall down to her sides again.

A long silence followed.

''How sure are you about being able to get us through this plan?'' Cana asked in another attempt to get him to talk.

''I already told you, we won't go through with this!''

''I believe in you, okay?'' she said in an unusual, almost trembling voice. ''If there is someone who can take them down amongst us, it's you. And if I can be of any help, then I will do it.''

''Are you absolutely sure?'' he said with still a hint of distrust in his voice.

''Whatever the plan is, I need you to tell me. This doesn't have to be that dangerous if we're well prepared. Don't forget they're just aiming for us randomly while we actually know what we're doing.''

His serious face made place for a careful smile.

''Why do you have that stupid grin on your face, I'm being dead serious.''

''It's just that I have never seen you so dedicated about something before.'' He laughed.

''Oh shut up.''

He walked towards her and lay his hand on her shoulder as he looked into her eyes.

''Cana, '' She felt as if his eyes were the only thing her gaze could be drawn to. As cold as they looked, she could feel the warmth of determination emitting from them. ''Let's do this.''

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Cana stared through the leaves, barely able to distinguish the four figures from the trees surrounding them. They were sitting on logs, most likely trying to make a fire. Faintly she could hear them talk, but they were too far away to decipher any words. Suddenly the air rippled and with a muted thump, Mest kneeled down beside her.

''I will never get used to that, you know?'' she hissed.

''I made all the preparations, now it's up to you,'' he said as he ignored her former complaint. To her blank face, he continued, "You said you believed in me, now it's my turn to believe in you.''

She sighed. Normally she would have countered such a sentence with anger, but she knew he meant it. It was no use fighting it.

She held out her hand between the two of them and counted down on her fingers.

3\. 2. 1...

''Now," she whispered.

She jumped up. ''Card Magic; Paralysis!'' she yelled as she drew the attention from the startled men.

The bandits jumped up from their spots, trying to reach their gun, but it was already too late. They had frozen in place.

''Too bad,'' he said as he looked down at the tarot card he had placed on the soil earlier. ''My partner was faster.''

He threw the guns far away towards Cana and stood in the middle of the four men. Mest closed his eyes and focused. Before Cana could even run towards the guns he was gone, including the four bandits. She held her breath. Now it was all up to him whether this plan turned into a success or not. She put the guns away in a bag and started running towards the direction of the Inn. It was now or never.

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Panting and almost tripping over the Inn's entrance, Cana stumbled into the building. She quickly went through the door behind the bar and down the hidden stairs leading to a basement.

She could finally breathe out again in relief when she saw Mest and Doranbolt standing in front of a metal door. He turned around and grinned.

''We did it!'' he let out as he raised his hand. She ran up to him to meet him in a high-five but noticed something was off. Even before she could reach him, his eyes rolled back and he sank through his knees. Doranbolt was just in time to catch him.

Then it hit her. He was supposed to transport two bandits at the time but instead he had transported all of them. Back in the train was even his first time transporting somebody else. This has been way, way too much.

''He has ethernano deficiency!'' Cana yelled as she kneeled down and kept his head off the ground. ''We need a healer, right now!''


End file.
